Island film series brings diverse Canadian stories to P.E.I. screens

Since moving to P.E.I. nearly a decade ago, Nathan Lacroix has watched the Island grow more diverse, and he wants local movie screens to reflect that change.

Lacroix, a film enthusiast who has also worked in the Island’s movie industry, launched Beyond the Frame, a series aimed at showcasing Canadian stories from underrepresented filmmakers and communities.

“Just because some movies don't have those million-dollar budgets doesn't mean they're not good movies,” Lacroix told CBC’s Island Morning.

“We have very talented Canadian directors and producers who deserve their spotlight.”

The series kicked off this week with Village Keeper — the story of a Black mother and widow living in Toronto trying to protect her children from neighbourhood violence — shown Thursday at City Cinema.

Starting in January, Lacroix plans to host one screening each month until the end of August.

To get the project off the ground, Lacroix received support from the Canadian Independent Screen Fund, which helps BIPOC creators.

He said the lineup will include films from Black and Indigenous people, as well as those from the queer community.

“Those films and stories don't always get to be told and seen here [but] more and more they're being created,” he said.

Lacroix hopes the screenings will not only give Islanders access to a wider range of Canadian stories but also attract attention from potential funding partners.

“Funders can see that, ‘Hey, these films are good. Communities here are liking them. We can fund them more,’" he said. "A lot of the time, films are mainly funded through organizations. So… they can know that these are deserved to [be] made.”

To select movies for the series, Lacroix attended events like the Toronto International Film Festival and the Lunenburg Doc Fest, which he said help curators like him discover Canadian films.

He also finds movies through distributors like the National Film Board that give him access to catalogs of local independent filmmakers. He tries to watch two or three films a week as part of his curation process.

Many of these independent works, he noted, aren’t widely known.